Energy Security
The increasing demand for gasoline and diesel fuel used to power our cars
and trucks makes our nation more dependent on foreign sources of oil. More
than one-half of the petroleum consumed in the United States is imported,
and that percentage is expected to rise to 68% by 2025.1 The U.S. transportation
sector relies almost exclusively on refined petroleum products, accounting
for over two-thirds of the oil used.2 Our increasing dependence on foreign
sources of oil makes us vulnerable to supply disruptions and price fluctuations
that occur outside of our country.
In the short term, conservation and the use of highly efficient hybrid-electric
vehicles (HEVs) can slow the overall rate of growth of oil consumption.
Hybrid-electric vehicle technology is becoming commercially competitive
in today’s consumer market, and additional research is focused on
making hybrid batteries, electronics, and materials more affordable. But
over the long term, when projected increases in the number of cars on the
road and vehicle-miles-traveled are taken into account, HEV use alone will
not reduce oil consumption below today’s level.
In the long term, energy security will be achieved only by finding a substitute
for gasoline. Hydrogen, particularly when used in fuel cells for transportation,
offers an alternative that can reduce or even eliminate our dependence
on foreign oil and improve our energy security. Hydrogen fuel does not
occur naturally (unlike coal or natural gas) – we must produce it.
But the fact that it can be produced using many different and abundant
resources, including fossil, nuclear, and renewable, is one of the most
significant reasons why hydrogen is such a promising energy carrier. Using
hydrogen, particularly for our transportation needs, will allow us to diversify
our energy supply using abundant domestic resources and reduce our dependence
on foreign oil.
Hydrogen is an energy carrier, not an energy source. Hydrogen can store
and deliver usable energy, but it does not exist by itself in nature and
must be produced from compounds that contain it (primarily water, but also
other sources, such as hydrocarbons and alcohols).
Hydrogen can be produced using diverse, domestic resources including fossil
fuels, such as natural gas and coal (with carbon sequestration); nuclear;
and biomass and other renewable energy technologies, such as wind, solar,
geothermal, and hydro-electric power. Researchers are working to develop
a wide range of technologies to produce hydrogen economically and in environmentally
friendly ways. In the future, the hydrogen economy will not rely on any
one pathway – the great potential for diversity of supply is an important
reason why hydrogen is such a promising energy carrier.
The overall challenge to hydrogen production is cost reduction. For transportation,
a key driver for energy independence and therefore the hydrogen economy,
hydrogen must be cost-competitive with conventional fuels and technologies
on a per-mile basis in order to succeed in the commercial marketplace.
This means that the cost of hydrogen (which includes the cost of production
as well as delivery to the point of use) should be in the range of $2.00
- $3.00 per gallon gasoline equivalent (untaxed.)
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